First Steps on the Moon

This Week in History




Where were you on July 20, 1969? That was the day when we realized the goal set forth by President John F. Kennedy “to put a man on the moon in this decade.” I know, some of you had not even been imagined yet, but if you're a boomer, you probably know where you were that night.

It was on a Sunday, and in my hometown at the First Baptist of Dadeville,  Alabama, some petitioned the preacher, Rev. Murray Seay, to cancel the Sunday night service so we could all watch. He came to our Training Union class to announce that the first step on the moon had been delayed and we would have time for worship and the moon walk.

Our family gathered around the black and white TV. The moment came at 9:56 p.m. Central Daylight Time.  We heard Neil Armstrong declare, “That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.” We were all amazed that two guys were actually up there walking around on the moon. We watched along with Walter Cronkite, of course, as he anchored the CBS News desk.

The first Apollo mission had ended in tragedy when a flash fire engulfed the capsule during a test run the day before the scheduled launch. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed that day. Then later, there was the dramatic mishap on Apollo 13 in which the crew were fortunately brought back safely after a rupture disabled the service module of the Apollo spacecraft on the far side of the moon.
 
In the years that followed, I was dismayed that the Apollo missions became so routine that there were no network interruptions to carry sustained coverage. It was treated as old hat, when I wanted to follow each mission as it unfolded.

Later we would see the Space Shuttle program, the deployment of the Hubble telescope, the building of an international space station, and missions to Mars with robot explorers like the Curiosity Rover. You can see it all at NASA’s website, https//www.nasa.gov. 

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For a humorous take on this day in history, check out “Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Reminisce about Working for NASA” at The Vidalia Onion.



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